vz
by stolashoots
Summary: Zexal goes over to Shark's empty apartment to stay the night and is surprised to find Vector camping out there. Vector/Zexal


**AU in which Astral stays on Earth and Yuma and Astral can still overlay to make Zexal.**

 **Thanks a ton to bus for giving me the idea and helping out with this!**

Vector freezes when he hears the distinctive sound of the front door lock unlocking, then dives for the remote to turn off the television. Shit, he hadn't expected Nasch to return to the apartment; the last time he checked on it was months ago. All of Vector's things are in one of the bedrooms, if only he can reach it before being spotted, he can jump out the bedroom window and make an escape. Vector gets to his feet and makes his way out of the living room as quickly as he can, careful not to make too much noise to alert Nasch of his presence.

"Hello…?" A voice calls, and Vector curses under his breath. How was he spotted? He was being silent and he hadn't even passed the front door yet. Oh, right. His shoes are next to the door, easy to see by anyone who enters the house. "Is someone here?" The voice tries again, and this time Vector realizes it's not Nasch speaking. For one, Nasch doesn't sound like that, nor would he ask if anyone was around. Nasch is too loud, too hot headed; if this was Nasch, he would have stormed into the apartment ready for a fight.

So, who was this then? Vector isn't certain he wants to find out, only it's too late because the owner of the voice has fully entered the house and is in sight. It's… Zexal. Huh.

"Huh," Vector says aloud, tensing up in preparation to spring away and dash for the bedroom. He hasn't seen Zexal since all those years ago when Vector was merely a puppet of Don Thousand and Zexal met him on the battlefield. He would have thought Yuma and Astral wouldn't overlay again since Earth is back to normal, but here they are. Vector saw Yuma only a few days ago, so this is new.

"Vector," Zexal says, slowly bringing their hands out in front of them in a defensive manner. "I didn't expect to see you here. Shark said this place would be empty."

"Yeah, well, _Ryouga_ doesn't know I'm here." Vector can see Zexal is wearing some kind of overstuffed backpack, perhaps an overnight bag? He couldn't think of any other reasons why Zexal would be here of all places.

"Shouldn't you be at the mansion?" Zexal asks, referring to Nasch's old family home he and the rest of the ex-Barians live at. Before Vector can give a snappy answer (" _No, of course I shouldn't be over there; why would I ever want to see any of those wimps ever again; do you really think they would ever allow me near them after all I've done to them; why didn't you let me stay dead_."), Zexal's face falls in understanding, no doubt realizing that not everyone has forgiven Vector like Yuma has.

Vector shuffles his feet, glancing the bedroom door twenty feet away and twitching his fingers. He still doesn't know what Zexal wants, but he doesn't have his deck with him. A novice mistake, he's willing to admit, but he really hadn't expected to be ambushed in his own pseudo-home. Though he's on good terms with Yuma, he'd rather be safe than sorry. Zexal watches him with keen eyes, no doubt judging him while Astral and Yuma debate on what to do with Vector.

"You can stay. Since you were here already," Zexal says. It seems Yuma has won this argument; there's no way Astral would ever agree to leaving Vector by himself. "I won't tell Shark." Zexal looks around at the living room in modest curiosity, then backs away. "I'll see you later, Vector."

"Why did you come here?" Vector asks before he can talk himself out of it. Zexal brightens up immediately, understanding this means they can stick around for a bit.

"I wanted a bit of time away from Yuma's… My family, and Shark said I could hang out here as long as I need to and he gave me the key." Zexal shows Vector the key in their hand as proof. Vector himself simply picked the lock as needed, much easier than lifting the key from Nasch without him noticing. "What are you doing here?" The question is spoken in a way that isn't accusative, merely curious.

Vector shrugs. "Oh, you know. Just trying to keep off the streets." Of course, Zexal has no idea what that's like; Astral doesn't need human necessities such as food and shelter to survive, and Yuma has his parent's house. Zexal, however, nods in sympathy. It irritates Vector.

Zexal hasn't been kicked out yet, so Zexal seems to take this as a sign to make themselves comfortable. They slip off their pack and set it down with a thud, kick off their shoes, then make their way to the couch. It's a nice couch, it's sturdy without being uncomfortable, and it matches the blue and purple theme of the room. Merag bought it, no doubt; Nasch would have rather sat on the floor than go out and so something as mundane as furniture shopping.

Vector knows common courtesy dictates he should offer Zexal food or a drink, but this is technically Nasch's place, not Vector's, so he doesn't have to follow those rules. Vector joins Zexal at the couch. "So, why did you want time away from them?" Vector asks, because it's what he would have asked if he was sitting beside Yuma, only, this isn't Yuma, this is Zexal, who's not really Yuma, not entirely.

Zexal fiddles with their hair, inspecting a shark-themed lamp on the other side of the room. "I love my family," Zexal begins, never a good sign. "But they have trouble understanding… me, or, I suppose, Zexal." They sigh and relax back into the couch, throwing their arms out to the side and nearly smacking Vector in the process.

"You? But you're just Yuma and Astral, what's there to understand?"

Zexal sits up and frowns at Vector. "There's more to it than just that," Zexal grumbles. "Though I'm both Yuma and Astral, I'm also myself. It's like Yuma and Astral's souls were blended together into some weird soul milkshake and a few ingredients were added into it at the end. So I'm both of them plus the new bits."

Oh, that was… not what Vector was expecting, though it does make sense. In Duel Monsters, when two monsters overlay, they form an entirely new being. It seems Zexal works the same way. Vector had always assumed Zexal worked like Vector and Don Thousand did, where either one or the other was in control while the other mostly lay dormant until considered useful. He supposes this make more sense, however; Yuma isn't the type to accept anything other than equality in a relationship.

"So you wanted some time away because everyone assumes you're Yuma and Astral in one body, instead of you being someone else?" Vector thinks he gets the picture.

"Yeah!" Zexal shouts, then winces because they hadn't meant to speak so loudly. "Everyone keeps treating me like Yuma or Astral, but I'm not Yuma or Astral; I'm Yuma _and_ Astral _and_ a bit more. I don't act the same way they do; I don't like the same things they do."

"What things do you like, then?"

Zexal throws their hands up again. "How should I know, no one will leave me alone long enough to let me figure things out." They flop back against the cushions and reaches up to rub at their face. "Ugh, thanks for listening, Vector. It feels nice to be able to complain to someone."

"I don't have anything better to do."

Zexal continues as if they didn't hear Vector speak. "It's too bad we had to meet like this. I mean, every time we see each other, something's going wrong or you're trying to kill me." Vector tries to cover his grimace; he's by no means proud of the things he's done in the past, but there's no way to change them. He's not surprised not everyone was willing to forgive him after being revived. "Well, now that there aren't any intergalactic wars to get dragged into, we can actually hang out and become friends."

Wait, what? "Really?" Vector asks, trying to play it cool. This would mean Vector now has two friends, Yuma _and_ Zexal. Wow, this must be a record or something.

"Why not? I'm friends with all the other Barians. Or, at least Yuma is. And if Yuma trusts you, then I trust you." Zexal grins.

That is… kind of Zexal. Very kind, considering their history. Okay then. Vector stands and leaves the room, Zexal turning to watch him walk away. "Where are you going?"

"Kitchen, I'm hungry. Just stay there for a bit, the remote is on the couch." Behind him, Vector can hear Zexal find the remote and turn on the television. Vector makes his way to the kitchen and checks the fridge for food he has stored away.

A few minutes later, after heating some things up, he returns to Zexal. There's a little table between the couch and the television, and Vector sets the plates and bowl down on it in front of Zexal. "Oh? What's this?"

"Dinner. That's a salad. Kind of," Vector points to a plate with vegetables on it. "That's day old mac and cheese, that's reheated steak, that's a microwaved baked potato, and that is clam chowder." He shoves a fork and spoon into Zexal's hands. "Eat up."

"No chopsticks?"

"Shut up and eat."

"I thought you said _you_ were hungry," Zexal says as they poke at a sliver of steak, then brings it to their mouth. "Hey, I like this."

"Thanks. And I am, but. You said you don't know what you like, so you should try things to find out what you do like."

Zexal freezes in their action of bringing a spoonful of clam chowder to their mouth to stare at Vector with wide eyes. "Wow, Vector, this might be the nicest thing anyone's ever done to me."

" _Eat_ , Zexal," Vector says, reaching up to push the spoon into Zexal's mouth. Vector picks up the remote and turns on Netflix, Nasch never logged off, and enters Durbe's account. He's learned from past experiences Durbe either doesn't look at his history or doesn't speak up about it. "What do you want to watch?"

"Astral likes live action movies and Yuma enjoys movies where no one dies." Zexal stabs the potato apart, then nibbles on the skin.

"Want to try horror? I can turn on something else if you don't like it." Vector clicks on a movie when Zexal doesn't disagree. It's a cheesy horror movie, packed with blood, gore, and bad acting, and Vector's watched it so many times, he has most of the lines memorized.

They don't watch in silence; Zexal babbles as it plays, either talking to the characters, predicting what comes next out loud, or tries to pull Vector into a conversation ("Why do teenagers always drink and smoke in movies, I am also a teenagers and I've never done that. What about you, Vector?"). In the corner of his eye, he watches Zexal pick at the food like a bird, taking their time to taste the flavors, but all the food is devoured by the end of the movie.

Zexal yawns when the credits roll. It's actually pretty early, the sun is only just setting, but from the sounds of things, Zexal's had a long and tiring day. "You can take the other bedroom," Vector says, attempting to sound casual. He collects the plates, stacking them one on top of the other.

"Huh?"

"There's two bedrooms. You can take the one I'm not using. Nasch would ask questions if he found out you're not staying here." The last part doesn't need to be said, but Vector feels as though he needs an excuse to do something nice.

"Wow, really?" Zexal jumps to their feet. "Thanks!" They dash over to their pack, which Vector predicts is filled with clothes and other overnight necessities, grabs it, and goes searching for the second bedroom. The apartment is small; they find it after opening two doors. Vector takes the plates to the kitchen to rinse off and stick into the fancy dish washer. Zexal pops their head into the door way. "You took Shark's room?" They ask, grinning. "You know what? Now you can tell people you've slept in Nasch's bed and not be lying about it. It's a shame you're keeping this whole thing a secret." They disappear with bubbling laughter, returning to their new room to inspect it.

Vector freezes; he hadn't expected Zexal to make that connection, much less say it out loud. Vector shakes his head, reminding himself that he doesn't know Zexal as a person like he does Yuma and Astral, dries his hands off, and heads back to the living room.

Zexal joins him on the couch a couple minutes later, a small smile on their face. "Can we watch another movie? Like the last one?" He asks.

"Sure," Vector fiddles with the remote and turns on the next movie in Durbe's queue. Beside him, Zexal relaxes into the cushions and they begin watching.

 **Thanks for reading! Please remember to leave a comment.**


End file.
